Automatic air or steam coupling for railway cars



Nov. 1 1932. B. B. KOsANoVlcAH AUTOMATIC AIR 0R STEAM COUPLING FORRAILWAY CARS 5 Sheets-Sheet l F'iled Aprilv 9, 1952 MF u Nov. l, 193.2.v B. a. KosANovlcH 1,385,523

AUTOMATIC 'AIR 0R STEAM GOUPLING FOR RAILWAY CARS Nov. l, 1932.

B. B. Ko'sANovlcl-l AUTOMATIC AIR OR STEAM COUPLING FOR RAILWAY GARS 3SheetS*Sheet 5 Filed April 9. 1932 Patented Nov. l, 1932 N i ,UNrrrfzDSTATES BURKE B. KOSANOVICH, OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOR OFONE-FOURTH TO RAYMOND A. ERDMANN, OF MILWAUKEE, IVICONSIN PATENTFFICEAUTOMATIC AIR OR STEAM' GOUPLING FOR RAILWAY CARS Application led April9,

the present time. the Connections between the air pipes and steam pipesof railway cars are coupled by hand. This hand coupling delays the makeup of trains and is dangerous to the men doing the coupling.

19 The general object of the present invention is to provide couplingswhich will couple automatically as the cars come together, thus securingan immediate engagement of the coupling members without the necessity ofany manual operation and eliminating the danger of manual operation.

A further object is to provide couplings of this character which whenthe cars are un-` coupled will automatically close to prevent the escapeof steam or air from the uncoupled cars and which will automaticallyopen com-` munication between the couplings when the couplings becomeengaged with each other.

`A further obj ect is to provide devices ofthis character which are verysimple, have very few parts, no loose parts or loose connections, whichcan be manufactured at a slight cost, which are easy to install and willfit any make of railway cars.

A further object is to provide an air or steam leak-proof connection orcoupling which will operate with the cars at an angle and `either on astraight or curved track, the device further not interfering in any waywith the use of the present car coupler.

Other objects will appear in the coursevof the following description. i

My invention is illustrated in the accom panying drawings, whereinFigure 1 is an elevation partly in section of my improved air or steampipe coupling;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary top plan view partly in section;

Figure 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a section on the line 4 4 of Figure 1;

Figure 5 is a section on the line 5-5 of Figure 4;

Figure 6 is a like View to Figure 5 and 1932. Serial No. 604,301.

showing only one of thecoupling heads and showing the valve in itsclosed position;

Figure 7 is a front elevation of one of the coupling heads, and K Figure8 is a fragmentary section on the line 8 8 of Figure 7 Referringitothese drawings, 10 designates the usual air line or steam line mountedbelow the car in any suitable manner. This air or steam line isconnected by a flexible pipesection 11 te a reducer 12 and then to alongitudinally extending pipe 13. This pipe passes through a supportingyoke designated generally 14. This yoke is formed of sheet metal toprovide a vertical wall or web 15, a longitudinally extendinghorizontally disposed web 1G, a vertical wall or web 17 and theattaching flanges 18 and 19. The web 15 is formed with the transverselyeX- tending slot 2O through which the pipe passes. Atthe unction of theweb 17 with the web 16 there is provided a threaded collar or coupling21 which has a fiat under face so that this flat under face restsagainst the web 16 and is thus held from any turning movement. Theforward end of the pipe section 13 is threaded into this coupling 21.The coupling 21 is slidable upon the upper face of the web 14 and thepipel 13 is shiftable longitudinally through the slot 20 and is alsoshiftable laterally through this slot. Extending into the forward end ofthe coupling 21 and having screw-threaded engagement therewith is a pipe22. The forward end of this pipe is welded or otherwise engaged with thecoupling head which is designatedgenerally 23, the rear wall 24 of whichis formed with the opening 25 into which the forward'end of the pipe 22is inserted and welded. Disposed around the pipe 22 and bearing againstthe rear wall 24 at one end and against the vertical web 17 at the otheris a coiled compression spring 26. This spring is initially 14 incheslong but when inserted is compressed to a length of 11 inches so thatthis spring is under tension and constantly urges the coupling head 23in a direction away from the web 17.

The coupling head is best illustrated in Figures 4 to 6. The forwardwall of the coupling head is form-ed to provide two inwardly taperingrecesses 27 and 28. The inside wall of the recess28 has a surface 29extending parallel to the axial center of the coupling head. The recess27 opens into a bore 30 having a diameter of approximately 15/Sthsinches while the recess 28 opens into a bore 31 having a diameter ofapproximately one inch. These openings are formed in the forward wall ofa chamber 32 formed in the rear end of the coupling. The lateral wallsof this chamber 32 are formed with vertically extending grooves 33,these grooves 33 extending into a transverse groove 34 formed in thebottom wall of the chamber 32. Adapted to be disposed within the grooves33 and with its lower edge within the groove 34 is a block 35 of heatresisting rubber, the upper forward corner of which is cutaway orchamfered at 36. This rubber block 35 is provided with an aperture 37correspond' ing to the bore 30. Thevblock is also `formed with anaperture 38 alining with the bore 31 and having a iameter ofapproximately one inch. A transversely extending locking pin 39 isdisposed across the recessed or chamfered portion 36. Rearward of thegrooves 33, the side walls of the chamber 32 are formed with tworecesses 40 which receive the extremities of a pintie 41 which passesthrough the upper margin of a valve 42 which is formed of heat resistingrubber. This valve 42 lits snugly between the side walls of the chamber32 and is hinged by the pintle 4l so that this valve may either dependinto the chamber 32 or be lifted into a horizontal position.

Vhen this valve 42 swings downward into its vertical position, it closesthe openings 37 and 38 through the block 35 and when the valve israised, as shown in Figure 5, it uncloses these openings. The chamber 32is closed by a plate 43 and between the plate and the wall of thechamber 32 is disposed a gasket 44, the cover plate 43 being held inplace by screws 45 which pass through the margins of the cover plate andthrough the gasket and into the side walls of the chamber 32, thusholding the cover plat-e securely in place.

Disposed within the recess 28 is a pipe 46 having an external diametersuch as to fit snugly within the bore 3l formed at the inner end of therecess 28. This pipe is electrically welded to the bore forming theinner end of the funnel-shaped recess 28. The outer end of this pipe 46is circumferentially recessed at 47 and within this recess is disposed acollar or sleeve of heat resisting rubber tubing designated 48. Thisrubber tubing is approximately three inches long and the pipe 46 isapproximately eight and one-half inches long. The forward end of thistubing is beveled at 49. Beneath the fe ward end of this tubing, thepipe 46 is drilled with a plurality of holes 50. This rubber sleeve 48forms a yielding packing and the holes 50 permit the air pressure withinthe pipe 48 to force this packing outward at its forward end.

lt will be seen from the drawings that each coupling head has a conicalrecess to receive the pipe 46 of the opposite head and each couplinghead has a pipe 46 which projects beyond the head and is designed toenter the conicalrecess 27 of the opposite head and have air-.tightengagement with the bore 30 at the inner end of this conical recess 27.ln actualuse, when the two heads come together, as shown in Figure 4,the pipe 46 of each coupling head enters the recess 27 of the oppositecoupling head and as it passes through the bore 30 and through theopening 37 in the corresponding block 35, it will bear against the valve42 in the opposed head and lift this valve to a position where the valvewill nolonger interfere with the free passage of air so that the valvewill swing upward to an approximately horizontal position in eachcoupling head. Thus bot-h of the pipes 46, as shown in Figure 4, willact to conduct air or steam from one car to the other car. The slots 20in the brackets 14 permit the air line to move to the left or right on aleft or right curve, this being further permitted by the slack flexiblehose 11. 1When the cars are disengaged, from each other and separate,the pipes 46 will bewithdrawn from the opposed coupling heads and assoon as this has occurred, the hard rubber valves 42 of these couplingheads will fall to a vertical position, closing the openings through theblocks 35, thus trapping the air or steam within the pipe lines of therespective cars.

It will be seen that by this construction, l have provided automaticmeans for coupling the steam pipes or air pipes of two cars to eachother without the necessity of any manual manipulation of the couplingsand have provided means whereby the couplings may be as readilyuncoupled and at the same time provided for the automatic shutting offof the ends of the pipe lines. A,

By this meansl do away with the danger due to hand coupling oruncoupling, the necessity of using manually manipulatable valves to cutoli' or establish communication between the pipe lines and eliminate thedanger of trainmen being scalded by escaping steam or burnt by contactwith the hot couplings and eliminate the danger of the trainmen beinginjured between two cars. The structure which I have described isthoroughly practical and may be readily applied to any standard carstructures. The spring 22 permits the coupling heads and the pipesconnected thereto to shift longitudinally upon meeting in order to takeup jar and the spring 22 compensates for any relative movement betweenthe cars which would tend otherwise to disengage the couplings.

It will be seen from Figures 4, 7 and 8 that each pipe 46 is welded tothe inside wall of the corresponding recess and extends parallel to thisinsidewall, which inside wall is straight or longitudinal and is notoutwardly flared as is the outside wall of the recess. This is clearlyshown in Figure 7 and thus it will be seen that the pipe 46 is supportedfor a considerable portion of its length. Y

l have found the rubber sleeveV 48 to be of Very great importance as itis necessary, ofcourse, to prevent any possible leakage of air betweenthe rubber block and the pipe 48. ln experimenting and testing with mystructure l first omitted this sleeve 48 but found under thesecircumstances that when air pressure was applied to the pipe 22, itwould force the coacting pipe 46 rearward out of the opening 37'. Inorder to prevent this, I increase the strength of the spring 26 shown inFigure l so as to resist the backward movement of the `coupling head andalso provided the sleeve 48 with the openings whereby air pressure wouldenter between the outer end of the sleeve and the pipe 46 so as toexpand the sleeve against the rubber block 35. Preferably the interiorof the rear end of the sleeve 48 is covered with shellac before it isinserted in place upon the pipe 46, this shellac serves to adhere to thepipe 46 and prevent the passage of air through the sleeve. it will beseen that the spring 22 has a two-fold purpose, namely to hold thecoupler in the right p ace and further to keep the couplers inengagement under full air pressur rThe openings 50 in the pipe 46 mightbe emitted provided the spring 26 were strong enough but this increasein the size of the spring would increase the cost both in material andlabor.

lt would be entirely possible, of course, to make the pipe 46 in onepiece with the coupling head 23 and to form the pipe 22 in one piecewith the coupling head but in that case if some part would break, itwould be necessary to replace the whole coupling head, whereas by havingthese parts separate and welded to each other, the breakage of the partwill not require the discarding of the whole structure.

It will be noted that the `forward end of the pipe 46 is beveleddownward and forward and rounded. It is this rounded e'nd which iirstcomes in contact with the swinging valve 42 and causes the valve toraise and this rounded end will not damage the valve 42. Preferably theshellac should be used between the rubber block 35 and the groove 84.

Preferably, the coupler should be so installed on the car that ritshould project approximately an inchbeyond the car coupler.

The opening in the front and rear webs of the bracket 14 through whichthe pipe 13 passes is rather Vlarger than the pipes 22 and 18 so thatthe coupling head will be somewhat lower before engagement than afterengagement. This is for the reason that assuming there is one empty carand one loaded car, it is obviousthat the coupling head of the loadedcar will be somewhat lower than the coupling head of the unloaded carand these apertures will Vpermit the coupling heads to swing upward ordownward slightly to make proper engagement. It is my design that thiscoupler shall be manuiactured at the least possible cost and that thefewest elements shall be used while at the'same time being thoroughlyeffective to permitY the automatic coupling of the train pipes and to doaway with the necessity of manually operating valves to close off thetrain pipes when uncoupled or upon thetrain pipes when coupled. -While Ihave illustrated a structure which I believe to be particularlyelfective for the purpose intended and which has been very carefullydesigned to meet the exigencies of the occasion, I do not wish to belimited to the exact details shown as these might be varied in many wayswithout departing from the spirit of the invention as defined in theappended claims. L

l claim l. A steam or air pipe coupling for railway cars including ahollow coupling head oominunieatively connected at its rear end to thetrain pipe line, the forward end of the coupling head having twoinwardly tapering recesses, each terminating in an opening leading intothe interior of the head, a rubber block extending across the interiorof the head immediately behind the front wall of the head and havingopenings registering with the openings at the rear ends of the recesses,a pipe engaged with one of said openings and extending through thecorresponding recess and beyond the head, and a valve in the hollowinterior of the head adapted to close against the rubber block and closethe openings therethrough but automatically opened when two coupling'heads are engaged.

2. A steam or air pipe coupling for railway cars including a hollowcoupling head communicatively connected at its rearend to the train pipeline, the forward end of the coupling head having two inwardly taperingrecesses, each terminating in an opening leading into the interior ofthe head, a rubber block extending across the interior of the headimmediately behind the front wall of the head and having openingsregistering with the openings at the rear ends of the recesses, a pipeengaged with one of said open'- ings and extending through thecorresponding recess and beyond the head, and a valve swingingly mountedon lateral walls ofthe coupling head and swinging by gravity intoposition against the rubber block to close the openings therethrough butlifted by the insertion of the said pipe of a second coupling head whenthe'coupling heads are engaged.

3. A pipe coupling for railway cars including opposed hollowcouplingheads carried by each car and each communicatively connected atits rear end to the pipe line of that car, the forward end of eachcoupling head having two inwardly tapering recesses, each terminating inan opening leading into the interior of the head, a pipe extendingoutward from one of said openings in each coupling head and through thecorresponding recess and beyond the head, the pipe on one coupling headbeing offset with relation to the corresponding pipe on the othercoupling head, the pipe on one coupling head being insertible into theconfronting tapering' recess of the opposite coupling head and beingguided thereby into engagement with the opening at the termination ofsaid recess, a valve in 'the hollow interior of each coupling head, thevalve being mounted for swinging movement in a vertical plane andnormally closing both of said openings in the head, the insertion of thepipe of an opposed coupling head through said opening lifting the Valve.

4. A pipe coupling for railway cars including opposed hollow couplingheads carried by each car and each communicatively connected at its rearend to the pipe line of that car, the forward end of each coupling headhaving two inwardly tapering recesses, each terminating in an openingleading into the interior of the head, a pipe extending outward from oneof said openings in each coupling head and through the correspondingrecess and beyond the head, the pipe onione coupling head being offsetwith rela-tion to the corresponding pipe on the other coupling head, thepipe on one coupling head being insertible into the confronting taperingrecess of the opposite coupling head and being guided thereby intoengagement with the opening at the termination of said recess, anelastic packing block carried in the hollow interior of each headagainst the front wall thereof and having openings registering with theopenings through said front wall and forming the terminations of saidrecesses, and a valve pivotally supported at its upper portion to swingdownward against the inner face of said block and normally close saidopenings, said valve being liftable by the insertion of the pipe of acorresponding coupling head into the corresponding opening in the otherhead.

5. A steam or air pipe coupling for railway cars including a hollowcoupling head, a support therefor including two vertical webs, theforward web having an opening, the rearward web having a transverselyeX- tending slot, a pipe extending from the rear end of the couplinghead into said opening,

a pipe section operatively connected to the first named pipe andextending rearward and through the slot in said bracket, the slotpermitting lateral movement of the bracket and the pipe relative to eachother, a iieXible tubular connection between the rear end of the lastnamed pipe and the pipe line of the car, a compression spring disposedbetween the coupling head and the bracket and urging the coupling headforward, said coupling head being hollow and having its front wallformed with two inwardly tapering relatively deep recesses, the innerends of which terminate in openings leading into the interior of thehollow head, a rubber packing member disposed within the hollow head andagainst the inside of the front wall and having openings registeringwith the terminal openings of said recesses, a pipe disposed in one ofsaid recesses and at its rear end engaged in the terminal openingthereof, the pipe projecting outward beyond the coupling head andadjacent its extremity having an elastic sleeve surrounding the pipe,and a valve in the hollow interior of the coupling head swinginglymounted to close by gravity against the openings in the rubber block,said valve beino' lifted upon the insertion of a pipe ei;- tending froman opposed coupling head.

G. A steam or air pipe coupler for railway carsincluding a supportdepending from the bottom of the car. the supper having a forward i 7eband a rear web, the rear web being transversely slotted, the webs beingconnected by a horizontal web, the forward web having an openingadjacent the horizontal web, a

crew-threaded coupling disposed immediately behind said opening andslidable longitudinally upon the horizontal web, a pipe connected tosaid coupling and extending rearward and through the slot in the innerweb and flexibly connected to the pipe line of the car, a hollowcoupling head, a pipe leading from the rear end thereof and extendingthrough the opening in the forward web of the support and engaged withsaid slidable coupling, a spring disposed between the forward web of thesupport and the coupling head and urging it outward, the coupling headbeing hollow, the forward wall of the coupling head being formed withtwo inwardly tapering recesses terminating in bores leading into thehollow interior of the head, block of rubber extending transverselyacross the hollow interior of the head immediately behind the front walland formed with openings alining with said bores, a pipe disposed in thebore of one of said recesses and extending outward through said recessand beyond the head, the forward end of said pipe carrying an elasticsleeve and being formed for insertion int-o the bore of a correspondingrecess on an opposed coupling head and into engagement with the rubberblock thereof, a rubber valve swingingly mounted within the hollowinterior of the coupling head and swinging by gravity into positionagainst the face of the rubber block7 said valve being liftable by theinsertion of the last named pipe of an opposed coupling head.

7. In a steam or air pipe coupler for railway ears7 a hollow couplinghead7 the forward wall of the coupling head being formed with twotapering recesses terminating in bores leading into the hollow interiorof the head, a block of elastic material eXtending transversely acrossthe hollow interior of the head behind the front wall and formed withopenings alining with said bores, a pipe disposed in the bore of one ofsaid recesses and extending outward through said recess and beyond thehead, the forward end of the pipe carrying an elastic sleeve and beingformed for insertion into the bore of a corresponding recess of anopposed coupling head and into engagenient with the rubber blockthereof, the pipe inward of said sleeve being formed with perforationsleading from the interior of the pipe to the inner face of the sleevewhereby when the pipe is inserted through the bore in the elastic blockpressure within the pipe will force the sleeve outward into contact withthe wall of said bore.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature.

BURKE B. KOSANOVICH.

